The police in Philadelphia are taking an ingenious step in an attempt to slow down motorists: deploying 3D speed bumps. Rather than going through the painstaking task of installing real speed bumps, the Philly police are simply laying down flat plastic "speed bumps" that mimic the real thing, all in an effort to fool drivers into slowing down — at least once. Upon first glance, these speed bumps aren't very convincing. But we're sure while traveling at a good 30 or 40 mph they look significantly more realistic.

If you're just going to lay these all over town, we don't think drivers will be fooled more than once or twice. But if the police were to combine these virtual 3D speed bumps with, say, real ones, drivers might just slow down rather than trying to distinguish real from fake. What would be even better is a graphic that looks like one of Philly's numerous street vendors. "Wata A Dolla! Ahhhhh!" [Portable Gadgets]